[evildmguy]

Some good responses. Thanks!

I need to give a bit more information. My players are generally technically proficient, with many working or have worked in IT areas. This group has been together for seven years, with a few additions recently. We prefer the story and the drama more so than the mechanics, and so have dabbled in many different systems. We like what each system can do and usually take that information back to other games if we can.

I was in the room with them during the installation on the PCs laptop. However, I hadn't gone through it in a while and the install for the GM version is different from the Player Edition, so I couldn't really help them. That was part of my confusion!

To specific questions.

Installation: Don't get me wrong. I'm feeling stupid that I didn't suggest new right away even when the player tried to login with HL credentials. I already have RW installed, so can't do a player install, but I think the thing that threw us was nothing was explained what to use if installing it as a player edition.

It's the same for invites. It took me a bit to find where to send them. A search function for players might be nice, but that can get tricky with regards to sharing information, I know. Again, I don't think this was too bad overall.

Realm: I have no problem sharing my realm. Let me know where to send it.

I find using RW really valuable to set up a campaign. I did watch several of your Gen Con seminars with it and what *completely* took me off guard was how much data you were entering and how much it was divided. That level of preparation is just not my style. I tend to plan the big things, the overall arc, plan the next level of detail, such as the BBEGs, and then maybe a few captains, but not all the way down the hierarchy. I like to leave room for the players to be creative and come up with their own plans and roll with it. So to see you having walls of text was quite the surprise! Even as I used it to run an AP, I found myself heavily modifying it for my players, and so having text already entered might not have helped as much as I thought it would. Again, this goes back to my style.

(We are currently using the Alternity rule set but running a modern supernatural style campaign, similar to Hunter the Vigil.)

One of the things I'm using is the idea from The Dresden Files RPG which has the players and GM set up the city/world being used. We all created NPCs for the PCs as well as locations. However, these were very limited when first done, to maybe a sentence or two. As the campaign progresses, we add things to it.

For example, I had all of the players give all of the other players an ex of some kind. Most resented it, so weren't kind, but there was an exception. One of the guys has an ex who works at a university and will let him look at artifacts that she suspects are "special." That's all we had. Later, as we played, for dramatic purposes, we added where she was located, a co-worker of hers who also believes, and some specific buildings on campus. Therefore, when I'm running the game, for this one scene, I ended up needing a new NPC, details about said NPC, two new buildings, offices within the buildings, some labs, and descriptions for all of the new things or people added. That's just not easy to do while still running the game. I tend to write down notes and then go back and add them later.

That's the sort of thing that RW doesn't seem to allow at the table. It's just not fast enough to allow me to type these things in, switch from topic to topic, and type in notes as well. It seems as if it's assumed that's all done and all I will be doing is running a Game Session and revealing information.

Overall, the Player View works quite well. We were playing PF and I used it for some maps and that was pretty good. The scaling and zooming of it worked well not to give away where a secret might be or not. In the modern game, I use it more for NPC pictures and a few other pictures and again, it works great. (I do use a second monitor connected to my laptop.)

Notes: What I meant about notes was the ability for them to add notes to specific topics, not a generic note. For example, the ability for them to add more information on their own characters or to add a new NPC that they need as a contact. The ability to update other NPCs as well, again a former contact with new information. Just adding generic notes won't work for us.

Further, they were really disappointed that the reveal mechanism was all or nothing. I can't set it up to reveal certain things to certain people, give access to the player to update his, and only his, PC, or even give them control over things. Again, this is probably our style. I keep trying to do a campaign where they can introduce certain elements, like an NPC or contact, and the ability for them to enter it would be great. However, I'm sure for data synch between an entire group would not be fun.

I have really enjoyed the relationship views. It obviously takes a while to get all of the data entered and looking nice but it is has been a big help.

Given my style, what I would love is pop ups in the story/world almanac view. Obviously, if I could customize it, that would be good but I would be fine if one of the topics is the pop up information. Because RW isn't fast to switch between people, I often find that when I haven't looked at them in a while, a pop up to remind me of who an NPC is, a location, or an item would help. We usually miss several weeks of gaming during the upcoming holidays, so the ability to hover over a name and get some more information about them to jog my memory would be great. (Again, the Overview item as a pop up would be fine.) Right now, it just pops up the name again, which isn't very useful.

I'm hoping this helps. I will try and keep giving feedback after sessions and as I think of it.

Hopefully this made sense. If not, questions are welcome!

edg